(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada/RABAT, Morocco - November 17, 2011: The Arab League has moved a step closer to imposing economic sanctions on Syria while army defectors took the armed struggle against President Bashar al-Assad to a new level by attacking an intelligence complex on the edge of Damascus.

Further intensifying the international pressure on Assad to end his repression of eight months of protests, France withdrew its ambassador from Syria and Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said Paris was working with the Arab League on a draft U.N. resolution.

Western countries have tightened sanctions on Syria and on Monday Jordan's King Abdullah became the first Arab head of state to urge Assad to quit.

The Syrian army defectors attacked an intelligence complex on the edge of Damascus in a high-profile assault early on Wednesday that showed how close the popular uprising against Assad's rule now is to sliding into armed conflict.

Last month Russia and China vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution condemning Damascus, but the Arab League's decision last weekend to suspend Syria has given international moves new momentum.

On the day the suspension came into force, the League's foreign ministers met in the Moroccan capital with a Syrian flag next to an empty chair where the Syrian minister, who boycotted the meeting, would have sat.

The League -- which normally shies away from decisive action against its members -- decided to ask its experts to draft recommendations on economic sanctions on Syria.

The decision brought a plan announced at the weekend one step closer to implementation.

The Arab foreign ministers also gave Damascus three days to implement a road map agreed this month to end the bloodshed and allow in observers, though they did not say what would happen if Syria failed to comply.

Asked if the ultimatum was a last attempt at diplomacy, Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim al-Thani told reporters: "We do not want to talk about a last-ditch attempt because I do not want this to sound like a warning.

"What I can say is that we are close to the end of the road as far as the (League's) efforts on this front are concerned."

The Arab League has stopped short of calling for Assad's departure or proposing any Libya-style military intervention, but its ostracism of Syria is a blow to a country whose ruling Baath party puts Arab nationalism at the center of its credo.

In Damascus, Assad supporters threw stones at the embassy of the United Arab Emirates, in one of the most secure districts of the city, and smeared its walls with graffiti, witnesses said.

FIGHTING BACK

In the early months of the uprising, attempts by security forces to crush mainly peaceful protests accounted for most of the violence. But since August there have been growing reports of army defectors and armed civilians fighting back.

Activists said Free Syrian Army fighters fired machineguns and rockets at a large Air Force Intelligence complex on the northern edge of the capital at about 2:30 a.m. (0030 GMT).

A gunfight ensued and helicopters circled over the complex, on the Damascus-Aleppo highway. There were no immediate reports of casualties. Syrian state media did not mention the attack.

Washington said it had few details and no confirmation of the incident, but that Assad was courting trouble.

"It's not surprising that we are now seeing this kind of violence," State Department spokesman Mark Toner said.

"We don't condone it in any way, shape or form. But let's be very clear that it is the brutal tactics of Assad and his regime in dealing with what began as a non-violent movement (that) is now taking Syria down a very dangerous path."

"The regime should meet the demands of its people," he said. "The collective massacres in Syria and ... the bloodshed cannot continue like this."

Turkey has spent years courting its neighbor, but is now leading regional efforts to pit pressure on Assad.

In Tehran, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi criticised the Arab League for "acting in a way that will hurt the security of the region." He told the official news agency IRNA that Syria, an ally of Iran since 1980, had repeatedly pledged to meet legitimate popular demands and enact reforms.

"Unfortunately, some countries believe that they are outside the crisis ... but they are mistaken because if a crisis happens they will be entangled by its consequences."

Syrian authorities have banned most independent media. They blame the unrest on "armed terrorist gangs" and foreign-backed militants who they say have killed 1,100 soldiers and police.

Hundreds of people have been killed this month, one of the bloodiest periods of the revolt.

Syria says it remains committed to the Arab peace plan, which calls for the withdrawal of troops from urban areas, the release of prisoners and a dialogue with the opposition.